Padres royally bungle series finale

Kansas City hands them their sixth shutout loss

Umpire Will Little makes the demonstrative out call as San Diego Padres' Cameron Maybin watches after over running the base against the Kansas City Royals l during the third inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 7, 2014, in San Diego. The Padres appealed the call and lost the appeal. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

Umpire Will Little makes the demonstrative out call as San Diego Padres' Cameron Maybin watches after over running the base against the Kansas City Royals l during the third inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 7, 2014, in San Diego. The Padres appealed the call and lost the appeal. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

A man in a Tyrannosaurus rex get-up threw out the first pitch Wednesday. “Threw” might be a loose interpretation. Given the brachial shortcoming, he cradled the baseball in the costume’s mouth, turned and torqued a 20-foot bouncer toward home plate.

In their 8-0, series-deciding loss to the Royals, the Padres could claim no such limitations. Andrew Cashner stood on the mound, at Petco Park. Cameron Maybin returned to the lineup after sitting out the last game. And, still, the Padres (15-20) devised new ways to exacerbate their offensive ineptitude. They were shut out for the fourth time in 11 games and the sixth time in a 5-week-old season.

“This is baseball. You’ve got to have a short memory,” said Maybin, who had two of the Padres’ eight hits, all of them singles.

The Padres would certainly like to forget this one.

Moments after Nori Aoki led off the game with a single, the top of the first devolved into a one-man sideshow of errors. The second batter of the game, Alcides Escobar, tapped a soft grounder toward Everth Cabrera. The Padres shortstop whiffed on the ball, putting runners at first and second. A double-steal soon made it second and third.

The third batter, Eric Hosmer, flicked a single to right. Two runs scored, one unearned.

The fifth batter, Alex Gordon, rolled another routine grounder toward the left side. Again, Cabrera booted the ball. The next batter, Danny Valencia, cracked a one-out single to left, scoring Hosmer for a 3-0 lead.

In all, it was a thoroughly uncharacteristic half-inning for Cabrera, his early struggles in the field having resurfaced; Wednesday’s pair of errors gave him six through 34 games, that tying last year’s season total (in 95 games).

“That was really tough for me and for my teammates and that kind of pitcher, Cashner,” said Cabrera, who went 0-for-4 at the plate, dropping his average to .246. “I feel bad.”

27

Errors committed by the Padres through 35 games. As of early Wednesday night, they were tied for the seventh-most errors in the majors.

Cashner has not gotten a single run of support in his last three starts, all coming in shutout losses. In eight outings this season, the Padres have scored just 13 runs for their top starter.

Wednesday, he threw 43 first-inning pitches. The final two outs were an ordeal. After striking out Mike Moustakas, Cashner walked Jarrod Dyson to load the bases. The ninth batter in the order, American League pitcher James Shields, drew nine pitches before grounding out.

“We didn’t help Cash at all,” Padres manager Bud Black said. “When you’re not scoring runs, miscues in the field are magnified. That’s what happened in the first inning. It elevated (Cashner’s) pitch count. He had to work awful hard to get through that inning.

“He was behind the eight ball from the start.

In the second, Padres nearly worked an identical two-out, bases-loaded plate appearance for Cashner. It became an opportunity unrealized for the multi-talented right-hander. The batter ahead of him, Alexi Amarista, scorched an infield single to Hosmer, who stopped the ball and immediately fired to second, where Maybin had overrun the bag and was called out as he dived back.

Bud Black signaled for a review, which confirmed the inning-ending out and sullied the Padres manager’s previously perfect record on challenges.

“That ball’s down the line. (Maybin’s) back is to the play,” Black said. “Hosmer makes a hell of a play to stop it. Cameron thinks he’s gonna score on that ball. He scrambled like hell to get back.”

Maybin said afterward that he thought he had eluded the tag. But, he added, “ I don’t think that really (determined) the outcome. We kinda came out flat. We didn’t have a lot of energy and gave them some early runs. It’s tough to come back against a guy like James Shields.”

Kansas City’s No. 1 starter ensured that the Padres, without a challenge for the remainder of the game, would not have made much use of one, anyway. Across seven scoreless innings, Shields scattered seven singles, three of which stayed in the infield, and two walks. The Padres entered hitting .191 with runners in scoring position, last in the majors, and further lowered that by going 1-for-6, Amarista’s hit rendered fruitless by the call on Maybin.

Meanwhile, Cashner allowed four runs (two unearned) on seven hits over four innings, his day ended after 92 pitches. It was his shortest start since last July 5, when he allowed six runs in two innings at Washington.

Another early departure, this one fueled by the defense, extracted five innings of from a bullpen that had already thrown 11 ⅓ across the past two nights. Donn Roach, newcomer Hector Ambriz and Alex Torres combined to yield three runs, one unearned. Black indicated after the game that the Padres could bring in another fresh arm for Thursday’s series opener with the Marlins.

“They’ve pitched extremely well,” he said of a bullpen that has recorded a 1.95 ERA. “They’ve pulled their weight, for sure.”

Wednesday, yet again, the same could not be said of the Padres’ work at the plate and in the field.

Hosmer finished 3-for-4 with a trio of run-scoring singles for the Royals (16-17). The last came in the eighth, just before a passed ball by catching stalwart Rene Rivera allowed Dyson to dash home for a 7-0 lead. In the ninth, Valencia scored when Rivera failed to corral a throw at the plate.